


Broken Pieces

by Scentedsong



Series: Broken Pieces [1]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Domestic, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Kid Fic, Language, Married Couple, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Parent Bucky Barnes, Parent Sam Wilson, Parent Steve Rogers, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:34:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26483497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scentedsong/pseuds/Scentedsong
Summary: After fighting in the war against Nazis, defeating off alien invasions, defending the world from Hydra’s evil plans and countless other things. Steve will still not be shocked if his children are the ones that get him killed.In which a broken piece of furniture forces Steve to embark on a secret mission.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers/Reader
Series: Broken Pieces [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1925329
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

It started with a loud screech that set every set of nerves in his body alight with fear.

The sun had already set as he was laying in his bed, scrolling through the news article about the threat dismantled by the new Captain America with a huge grin on his lips and proud glint in his eyes. He always knew Sam had what it took.

That is when the offended screech had ignited a flame he had long let go.

In all the hundred something years of his life Steve had never had a reaction as fast as he did in the moment when he runs towards the source of the noise.

Thamp Thamp Thamp. His heart screams loudly and every inch of him can hear the attack of his heart against his rib cage as if trying to escape itself to assure the kids’ safety clearly. The fear surrounding every cell, every piece that joins to make his body whole, grows and grows until he can’t think, feel, or do anything other then run like his life depended on it. Which it did. He prays through the countless steps he takes in his run, he prays his kids were safe. That they remember what he had tought them for situations like these.

In all his years since he passed on the shield to Sam this is the first time he regrets it as he pulls out the gun from the secret safe on the hallway floor and the makeshift shield tony made for him in case of emergencies.

Expecting a complete army of Hydra soldiers here for him and his family Steve prepares himself for a fight. Every moment of his life he has been afraid of the dreaded day. Even after all the security they had, he somehow always predicted this day would come. And even though he feels a little relieved you are not home and in safety he also finds himself wishing you were here so he could have some help saving his kids.

The emergency button to alert Bucky and Sam has been pressed, others were far away today. He would just have to stall until Bucky or Sam or both if they could find a safe place for their own children could come and help.

His first priority right now are his children.

And with that in mind, he rushes through the living room door, banging it open with a harsh kick, his gun raised high, eyes roaming around in search of the intruder

“Oh my god!!” His 13 year old daughter screams, horrified before she along with all three of her siblings raise their hands in surrender

Steve looks around the room in confusion, his eyebrows furrowed as he assess the situation.

His 15 year old son sits with his legs bent and hands raised on the edge of your favorite sofa that you had purchased from IKEA, besides him sit all three of his siblings, the other end of the couch is occupied by his 13- year old daughter while both the 6 year old boy and 3 girl year old girl are in the middle. All of them have their hands raised in surrender, looking fearfully at the gun.

“Dad?” his oldest cautiously asks and Steve realizes his gun is still raised and pointed at the kids and he moves it to point down, pulling the safety back on and looks around.

Pieces of glass, varying in their shapes and sizes decorate the entirety of his living room floor, from the looks of it and the center table laying on the floor. Steve has a fair idea where the glass may have come from.

He sighs but before he can say anything, the window behind the kids is shattered with a loud bang and then a screech of glass breaking and a figure breaks in.

Steve quickly raises his gun at the figure while the person does the same. Their long dark hair cover a portion of their face. The light of the chandelier above his head shines as its light is reflected back from the man’s metal arm.

“Bucky?” Steve questions as he looks his friend over. His hair is completely disheveled and seem to be hastily tied together using a rubber band. A shirt that Steve is sure is inside out, awkwardly covers his chest and he still wears his pajama shorts. Several knives protrude out of his pocket which Steve is pretty sure he put in hastily.

Bucky nods his head, gun still raised, looking around for an intruder and completely prepared for a possible fight.

When he is done with his assessment and finds no one in sight, he turns back to Steve, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, the gun still raised now points at Steve

Steve closes his eyes for a second and faces his gun down again before sighing

“Max answer in yes or no, did someone break into our house?”

“Yes” the young boy answers, his arms still raised and Steve quickly regains his alert stance looking around as Bucky does the same

“Uncle Bucky did” the boy points at Bucky accusingly

With that Steve whips his head towards Bucky who gives Steve a look as if asking seriously? before Steve turns back to his 15 year old and sighs

“Except Bucky did anyone break in?”

“No”

With a sigh Steve drops his gun, making his way towards his kids, not caring about the glass pieces that pierce into the souls of his shoes he hastily put on. He goes on and takes all four of the hooligans in his arms and they hug him back in a big family hug before he pulls back and assess all their faces, looking for damage

“You all okay?” they collectively nod their heads as Bucky carefully makes his way towards the small party

“What the hell dude?” he says and Steve glares at him

“Bucky”

Bucky rolls his eyes

“What the Heck dude?” He puts extra emphasis on Heck

Steve just shakes his head and turns back to his children

“What happened here?”

Lana snifs a cry as she looks at her father

“Max was cleaning the center table when the glass fell off”

“The center table glass fell of while cleaning?” Bucky asks startled

“Anna spilled water on the table and Mom says wood gets bad if water stays on it so we were cleaning the water but it got under the glass so we slanted the table so the water could come out by gravity but instead the glass slid off due to it”

Steve sighs

“God, please tell me no one was around when it fell ” Steve says worriedly looking at all four of his children

Lana shakes her head

“We made the little kids sit on the couch when Max and I slanted the table. The glass slid off towards the forward side while we were behind it and then we quickly climbed on the couch”

Steve sighs in relief and takes a look at both of his older children’s feet just to make sure.

“Good good” he nods, still trying to calm himself from his initial shock as he examines their blood less, dirty but still blood less feet

Little Anna taps her tiny hand on his thigh to catch his attention and Steve looks at his 3 year old. She motions towards his feet and babbles before tears start to fall down her eyes. Outsiders may never understand what his non verbal baby often says but Steve knows clearly what she is asking and he quickly takes her in his arms, placing her in his lap and hugging her tight, running his hand up and down her back

“Daddy is fine sweaty” he coos “Daddy’s shoes saved him”

She keeps crying trying to recover from her initial shock before Aiden follows the lead of his younger sister and starts crying as well and Steve pulls him in the hug too.

He tries to console the children as they keep crying, their older siblings trying to lighten the atmosphere by banging Anna and Aiden’s toys together to catch their attention. Something that only increases Steve’s boiling irritation.

Steve sighs, looking at the sky before he motions for a shocked Bucky to come close

“I pointed a gun at my children” Steve whispers in Bucky’s ear

“Yeah man” Bucky says “Think you’ve traumatized them for life?”

Steve glares at his best friend before turning back to look at the kids

“Its fine, its fine” Steve pats their backs before pulling away to look at their faces. A jolt of guilt spreads through him as he looks at their faces, red with fear and he sighs before wiping off the tears on both their faces with the edge of his sleeve

“Dad” Max calls out from his side “We scared you didn’t we?”

Steve turns to his oldest and nods his head

“Its fine. I’m just a little paranoid”

“A little?” Bucky snorts “You know how frightened I was when that alarm rang through? You ruined my dinner by the way. Now what am I gonna tell Sam?”

Steve just rolls his eyes and ignores his best friend

“I’m sorry dad” Max whispers and Lana nods her head besides him

“I’m sorry too Dad”

Steve just shakes his head

“No, no need to apologize. Its fine”

“We didn’t think the glass would fall off” Lana shakes her head “Mom bought it so we thought it was glued in”

“Who even put it together?” Bucky asks crossing his arms and before Steve can turn to glare at him, little Anna starts to babble again

“Dadadadadada” She smiles at Steve, clapping her hands proudly. Steve gives her a smile back and Bucky lets out a laugh

“That explains so much”

“Just sh-” Steve shakes his head and stops himself from saying any bad words in front of his kids. He would have to find Bucky later to give him a piece of his mind.

“He was gonna say shut up right?” Lana turns to Max who just nods his head

“Yup”

Steve swallows at that and has to close his eyes for a second before he turns to glare at the two

“What? Dad we know what shut up means” Lana rolls her eyes

“Watch your tone with me young lady” Steve raises an eyebrow at her and then sighs “Just don’t say it in front of the little kids”

“I will never understand one thing” Bucky says scratching his head “I mean why are we so careful in not saying any bad language words in front of the kids when they will eventually learn them in the future”

Max and Lana laugh at his comment, the little kids copy their older siblings as they too let out a series of laughs themselves and Steve finds himself smiling at the scene before Bucky’s words really sink in.

Anna raises her hands forward asking Bucky to pick her up

“Buck Buck Buck” she babbles as Bucky takes her in his arms and turns back to the glaring Steve after shooting a wink at both the older kids’ direction

“I mean my parents tried so hard not to curse in front of me and yet here I am” Bucky motions his hand in an up down gesture

“Yup and they are so proud” Steve rolls his eyes

“How come you are allowed to roll your eyes but I’m not” Lana asks crossing her arms

“Because I’m an adult” Steve sighs and raises a finger at her to stop her from saying any further. He was not in a mental state to have one of those daily debates with his daughter “Yes the moment you turn eighteen you can roll your eyes as much as you like”

Lana just sighs

“I’m gonna tell Mom” she sends him a look and he suddenly sees so much of his wife in his daughter that he has to hold back a smile. This one really is a handful.

But before Steve can say anything about it Max takes a deep breath in horror. Everyone in the room turn to look at him

“Mom” he says horrified “What are we gonna tell Mom?”

And the silence that follows is pin drop. They know it is because at that exact moment the hair pin Anna had taken out of Bucky’s hair falls down on the floor and they can all clearly hear it.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh god” Lana screeches “no no no no no”

“Mom spent at-least 6 months looking for the perfect table” Max says as he pulls at his hair “We have to do something, Dad what do we do?”

“We?” Steve raises a single eyebrow at his son “What are you gonna do son and what it is is that you are gonna tell her the truth”

“Are you crazy?” Lana screams “She will kill us, do you know how close Ana and Aiden were to that thing?”

Steve narrows his eyes at her “How close were they exactly?”

Her eyes widen as she realizes her mistake and gives him the fakest laugh he has ever seen. A laugh that may as well qualify as a cry.

“What? Hahahaha What? They-they were really far- far away.”

“Lana” he says sternly

“They were on the couch Dad” Max sighs “Promise”

Steve stares at his son for a second and then nods his head

“Lets just clean this up first” Steve sighs “Then you can tell Mom”

“No no no no no” Max whines as he takes hold of Steve’s hand “You don’t understand. Mom can’t know”

Steve raises an eyebrow at his son

“She will find out eventually”

“Dad please” Lana whines and puts her arms around him and Aiden to take him in a hug. Max moves to join the hug to before he pulls away and motions for Bucky to give him Anna. With Anna in her brother’s arms all four children hug Steve

“Dad please” The two older ones whine together while Ana laughs as she is made part of the hug

“Dadadadada”

“Dad please please” Aiden is now begging too, helping out his siblings.

“Mom and I are on the same team”

“There is no team in family Dad. We are all together” Max says resolutely “And just think about how heart broken Mom would be when she finds out what happened to her favorite table that she spent 6 months looking for, not to mention the fact that she warned you against putting it together yourself”

Steve whips his head to look at his son in the eyes who shoots Steve a knowing look and in this exact moment he decides Bucky is not coming anywhere near any of his children ever again

“Not to mention how you were boasting nothing can go wrong in the house in your presence when Mom was leaving.

He will agree that had him

“Fine”

“Yeah” Bucky claps his hands and Ana joins him

“Mission: Replace the table”

Steve lets out a breath but before he can say anything Aiden points towards the floor.

“That is a gun” he says, his eyes directed towards the gun Steve had dropped on the floor along side his makeshift shield 

Steve’s eyes widen in fear and he shots Bucky a horrified look who just shrugs and discreetly pushes his own gun under the sofa with his boot clad feet. Not even trying to protect the gun from the little glass pieces.

“A real gun” Aiden is now impressed and tries to get off the couch to reach the object of his fascination

“What?” Steve laughs loudly taking hold of his son from the waist and bringing him to his lap,he laughs again, a laugh that surely contests his daughter’s in the best horrible fake laugh contest “That’s not a gun”

“No that is gun” Aiden states excitedly “I have same gun”

The moment stops right there and he can feel several eyes him. Bucky behind him chokes on his own spit and Steve’s heart seemed to have stopped beating.

How the fuck did his kid even have excess to any of his or your guns? He was pretty sure you had them in high tech password protected safes all over the house that were impossible for children to access. Then how? Were they careless in one of the hiding spots and the little boy has now procured a gun.

His little boy had a gun.

What the hell was he gonna do now. This surely is parenting low right? Oh god. What was he gonna tell you?

His mind is fighting with itself trying to find the right words or actions for a situation like this and when it turns up blank, he tells himself that saying anything would be a step. But anything does not seem to leave his mouth and so he sits there, looking at his son with his mouth open and a low pitched noise the only voice coming out of it.

This was more than what he was trained for

If it were some other day, Max may have had enjoyed his father’s predicament and the expression on his face. But today it feels the old man has had enough of these mind blowing problems for his age and so he decides to pull his father out of his misery

“Yes Aiden” He says and Steve shoots him a warning look which he promptly ignores “This is exactly like your nerf gun. Dad and I had a gun war today but because of the broken table we had to cancel it”

Aiden furrows his eyebrows “I wanna gun fight”

“Yes” Max nods his head “we were all gonna participate even Lana and Anna, but maybe tomorrow”

Aiden stares at his brother for a second before shrugging “Okay”

A surge of relief is all Steve can feel at the moment and he shoots a thankful look at his son who just gives him a teasing smile

“Nerf gun is this toy gun dad” Lana whispers in his ear as she comes closer “I know you have a hard time understanding modern things”

Bucky lets out a laugh from behind him as Steve closes his eyes

His kids are gonna be the death of him.

———-

“Okay I called Sam and he’ll be here soon” Bucky re-enters the room careful not to step on any glass pieces

All the kids sit on the sofa with their feet up as they watch Steve carefully swipe off the pieces

“What is Uncle Sam gonna do?”

“Take care of you guys while Steve distracts your mother and I get a new glass”

“Wait wait hold on” Steve stops his work “Why am I the distraction?”

“You are her husband” Bucky says matter of factly

Steve shakes his head

“Me crashing her girls’ night is suspicious especially when I specifically told her to take time away from the family” Steve says “Why can’t Sam do it?”

“He’s tired dude” Bucky says crossing his arms “Being Captain America is exhausting”

Steve rolls his eyes as he crosses his arms. How would he know anything about that right?

“And taking care of six kids is relaxing”

“Well two of them would be put to sleep, two would be too guilty and would take care of the remaining two”

Steve shakes his head

“Okay fine then you go distract her”

“She’s your wife”

“And your friend”

Bucky crosses his arms before he huffs a sigh

“Fine I will distract her”

Steve nods his head and turns to his children who all sit obediently on the sofa. Even little Ana and Aiden stay silent and Steve can’t help but smile at them

“Its fine” he sighs as he sits down in front of them after having cleaned the floor and wiping it out with flour dough to make sure no pieces were left “Its just a piece of furniture”

He moves both his hands to his eldest son and daughter’s cheek who he knows would he extremely scared

“I am not angry” he smiles at them and Lana nods as tears stream down her face

“Thank you” she says and Steve’s heart breaks too much for his daughter who has been through so much in her life “One time I broke this glass cup and Max took the blame and he hit Max and he broke his hand”

She starts crying and the little kids stare at their sister in concern and shift towards her as Max puts his arm around her. Aiden wraps his short arms around her arm and hugs her as Ana offers her her Peppa pig stuffed toy

“Its okay sweety” Steve says softly taking his daughter in a hug and trying to control the extreme rage he feels towards her previous adoptive father.

Max and Alahna were both in the system since they were born having no knowledge of their respective biological families. They were both separately adopted in the same family and became siblings through the adoption. But as cruel as life was, their adoptive father turned out to be extremely abusive while the mother turned a blind eye to it.

The abuse was generally targeted towards Max and he always took the beating for Lana too. It was not until the father decided to attack Lana one day that Max decided enough was enough and contacted DCS.

They were separated despite their pleas to be put together even if it were a group home and were finally reunited when You had fallen in love with Lana 5 years ago during a visit to her group home and when she told you about her lost brother, you decided you would adopt them both.

Steve had just needed to meet them once before tearfully declaring they were his kids.

“If someone” he says patting her back “anyone touches anyone of you guys, I will make sure they are punished”

And he means it. With everything in him he means it. He knows they think by punish he means put them in jail like he made sure had been done to the abusive man. But he also knows they don’t know the revenge he took for every single ounce of pain that man put his son and daughter through, his personal justice.

“I love you dad” she says and he pulls back, smiling at her and repeating the words back before patting Max on the shoulder who tries to hold back his tears, He pulls Max in for a hug too patting his back before pulling away and pulling both Ana and Aiden in each of his arms.

“I love you guys more than you can think of” he kisses the heads of both the kids in his arms who still look at their older sister with concern. His heart feels full with how much all his kids loved each other and cared for one another.

Steve sighs, shooting a look at Bucky. Time to lighten the mood.

Bucky jumps up from where he was sitting cross legged on the floor, watching the happy family scene.

“Okay, now that we are proceeding towards the next step of our plan, I need to ask you a question”

He turns to Max in all seriousness and Max looks back, seriously listening to whatever his uncle has to say

“Can you cook?” Max furrows his eyebrows before shaking his head

“No, I-I”

“What the heck kid?”

“Bucky!”

“I was supposed to cook the food while Sam took the kids to the store before your alert sounded. Now what am I gonna do?”

“So you were gonna make my 15 year old son cook dinner for you?”

“For all of us”

Steve rolls his eyes, shooting a glare at Bucky as Aiden and Ana let out little laughs as he tickles them.

“Just order pizza, Sam would understand”

Bucky rolls his eyes

“Fine” he says crossing his arms “But you better learn how to cook kid, we can’t just order pizza all the time”

Max laughs at that and shakes his head

“We can order pizza anytime”

“Nice point”

“I will never understand how Sam agreed to have children with you”

“My children love me and so do yours” Bucky winks at Lana and Max and they nod their head, laughing

“That’s because you spoil them”

“Kids like it when you spoil them”

“Of-course they do-” Steve shakes his head “You know what? I’m gonna put these two to bed while you order pizza and then we can wait for Sam after which we’ll get a new glass”

“Dad” Max calls out and Steve turns back to look at him “Can I come with you”

“You wanna put these two to bed?”

“No no” He looks exasperated “To find the new table”

“No” It doesn’t even takes him a second to reply

“Please” Max whines and Lana decides to join him

“Please dad” She makes perfect use of the remnant tears that still remain on her face as her eyes sparkle and Steve feels his resolve breaking “It was our fault. We wanna help”

Steve tires to shake his head but that resolve takes no time to break as a fresh tear slides down his daughter’s face

“Fine” he sighs before begrudgingly leaving the room

The kids he carries in his arms loudly giggle as Bucky makes faces to them behind his back before he shuts the door to the living room, he just knows Bucky is imitating him with the way his kids laugh.

Well at-least they were laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and his two mini team mates embark on the mission to procure the replacement piece of glass.

His car raced through the ebony roads only illuminated by the head lights of his car and the sparkle of the crescent moon. The cold winter air swooshes in through the small gap of Max’ window and Steve uses the button he has on his side to completely close the window.

The numbers on his speedometer rise to a limit he is not proud of especially because of the occupants of the back seat. But extreme times call for extreme measures. At least that’s what he tells himself.

He sighs as he takes a turn through the dark road, the way to Brooklyn city from his suburban house ingrained in his brain.

“This is only because we are getting late” He glances over at the two occupants of the back seat through his front mirror

“What?” Lana asks grumpily, still upset about being forced to sit on the back seat after a fight with her brother over who gets shot gun before Steve announced neither would

“The fast driving” He taps the steering wheel “I would never do that if it weren’t an emergency”

“You telling this to us or yourself dad?” Max asks from the back seat and Steve has to grit his teeth.

Why was it that his children needed to test every level of his patience? Couldn’t they just listen and nod their head in understanding? Is it too much to ask for people around him not to question everything that he does?

He curses those stupid Vitamins and Healthy food you serve these children so they have a stronger body and quicker brain. He really misses the time when Max didn’t in fact understand that that was exactly what Steve was doing. Telling himself that to throw away the guilt that homes itself in the crevices of his body, reminding him every careless second that goes by about his indiscretions as a responsible father.

He again sighs and slows down the car. Do hell with being late.

“Dad what are you doing?” Lana asks frantically as she realizes the car has decelerated its speed

“I’m slowing down the car” he replies, without even glancing her way once

“This is all your fault” Lana grits her teeth and turns towards her brother a punch landing on his shoulder “Why did you need to point it out? did you see me do that?”

Steve has a very strong urge to groan in frustration but refrains just like he refrains to acknowledge the fact that he just knows this girl has only just turned a teenager. He has a long road of arguments ahead of him.

“Dad” Max whines rubbing his shoulder “she’s hitting me"

“Lana”

“It was his fault!”

“Alahna"

“Fine. I’m sorry”

Before the smug, teasing look on Max’ face initiates a new argument that would result in Steve inevitably gaining more white hair he interrupts

“We would be in the city in 5 minutes” he says as the honking and car sounds start to sound indicating entry into the city

“I’m gonna drive to that small furniture store your Mom loves so much and get an exact copy of the glass”

“What if they don’t just sell a piece of glass?”

“You know son” he smiles and winks at his son through the rear view mirror “I don’t like to do it often but when you are who I am, its a little easier to convince people”

The tries not to smirk at the looks of shock that his kids project his way.

————

“So the shop is closed” Steve says with a groan as he places his hand on the wall and looks down with a sigh

“Its 8:30” Max says dejectedly “Shops like these close around 7”

“Yeah I guess so” Steve moves towards Max and ruffles his hair “Its okay, we tried, we will deal with Mom”

Max just nods his head, looking up at his father sadly and before Steve can go ahead and say something to his daughter, loud banging envelopes the area as said daughter bangs her hands through the closed gates of the shop

“Lana” Steve hisses angrily “What do you think you’re doing”

“Getting them to open the shop” She screams “HELLO IS ANYONE THERE??”

“Stop it” Steve whisper screams, looking around wildly in fear

“We came all the way over here dad” she says, still beating he door “Might as well try”

The thaak thaak of hand hitting glass door blurs into background, a car honking loudly passes from behind him and the night insect sings its song. The noises all seem to be mocking him and his predicament.

Now Steve was a good father. At least you assured him that he was. He had an authoritative stand and believed in disciplining his children along side letting them have some fun.

When you had come to him suggesting adoption and he had readily agreed to adopt Max and Lana after meeting them, he had made a decision to be the disciplinarian in the family. The one that could handle the kids when they have those rebellious moments because he was sure in your inability to discourage behavior you actively involved yourself in.

Steve never considered the possibility of how if he could not tame the craziness that was you, how was he supposed to do it with your children? Four of them. And well his elder daughter was learning very quickly how to break the very strict resolve he was previously proud of. Was there a way he could keep her away from her own mother? That would be cruel right? Right?

He shakes his head but lets his daughter continue her breaking of the door, with a stone in his heart and with high reluctance he mentally has to agree with her.

They came all the way here, might as well try.

Poor Max is crouching down, behind the car, far away from where his sister has gone crazy and decides to stay there, vigorously gesturing with his hands when Steve motions for him to come closer when the inside of the shop lights up.

Steve knows what he is gesturing.

‘I don’t wanna get killed.’

'Same here son’ he thinks to himself and shuts his eyes when keys jingle and the owner starts opening the shop from the inside, an angry scowl painting her dark face 'At least you are not the irresponsible father here.’

Lana turns to him, a smirk gracing her lips and a proud glint in her eyes

“I did it Dad” the girl exclaims proudly and Steve tries to give her a smile in which he fails miserably

“Dad don’t worry” she whispers coming closer to him as the angry woman pushes the door open, a baseball bat in her hands “I know you’re afraid she’s gonna be angry but I’ve got it covered”

Steve turns to his daughter, a look of confusion on his face as the young girl steps ahead towards the old, angry, scratch that, furious woman in front of her.

Now his strong dad instincts tell him to step in front of his daughter and shield her but a look at the old lady’s face tells him his daughter has a better chance and well if there is an attack, Steve knows he will be in front of Lana before the woman could even lift her bat up.

So for now he lets Lana take charge. She clearly knows what to say and do. Maybe she will do all the talking and Steve won’t have to do shit.

Lana steps forward confidently and looks over at the scowling lady’s bat

“We are here in peace” she says confidently “I’m Alahna Rogers, I was here with my Mother 6 months ago”

The old lady seems to not have let go of her anger as she initiates a staring match with the young lady who almost reaches her height. The young lady stares back and as several minutes pass by, Steve glances towards his car behind which his son peaks out, looking over in interest.

Its several moments before the old lady speaks

“Very well” her face is passive and Steve feels a bubble of hope “But why the fuck are you creating ruckus in my shop after closing hours?”

She angrily bangs her bat against a piece of showpiece table just on the entrance of her shop in annoyance and said piece of furniture breaks into several pieces

Steve has to gulp at that, not even caring about the kind of language being used in front of his kids. Bucky’s words bounce around his brain as reassurance 

They will learn them eventually 

All he cares for right now is getting away from this scary lady. With Adrenaline shooting through his vessels, his fight or flight response slanting more towards the flight, he steps ahead to scoop Lana up and make a run towards his car before the young girl raises a hand at him

“He’s the former Captain America” she says and then turns to him, winking “And he needs your help, Mam”

Lana proudly reaches for her father’s hand and pulls him close and he curses all those moments where he would boast about his reach in front of the kids. When he would talk about his alien fighting days and the super hero stuff while you would murmur about him being a showoff under your breath.

You did mention there was a reason you never showed off your skills in front of the children. You did warn him those would come back to hit him in the ass. And it clearly seems like the hit is gonna be from a baseball bat swung at him by an old Lady.

He clears his throat, trying to decide words that would suit the situation but words seem to have run away in fear too. 

Sam once told him how he couldn’t just shut up even when there were literal aliens in the process of attack. Funny how all it took was an angry old lady with a baseball bat to Shut him up. Sam is gonna have a blast.

Steve makes a mental note to bribe the two witnesses not to utter a single word of this to either Sam or Bucky if he makes it out of here alive.

“We need the glass of the table we purchased from you” Lana takes charge when she realizes her father was no use at the moment. A feeling of embarrassment sweeps in when he realizes he was pushing his daughter ahead in the battle field but in this moment he was okay with that. The enemy seems to not interested in attacking her.

“What?”

“Maam” he clears his throat and steps forward, offering his hand to the old lady who does not take it, his hand keeps hanging in the air as he introduces himself “I’m Steve Rogers”

The old lady nods in acknowledgement before bringing her bat up and moving it towards Steve’s still out stretched hand. He winces, preparing himself for the blow and images of his 8th grade teacher using a scale to hit his hand as punishment for the fight he had with Alvin Matthews flashes through his brain

He flinches as the bat touches his hand but there is no attack, instead the lady uses the bat to make Steve put his hand back down on his side which he promptly does

“What'da ya want from me?”

She asks, her eyes narrowed as she crosses her arms, the bat still in her hand and Steve finds himself telling her the entire story. No details missed. By the time he is finished with his story, Max has made his way to stand besides his father and the old lady gestures for them to enter her shop

“Its cold outside”

Steve did not realize the existence of the cold pre-winter air that swooshes through the night until the lady mentions it and after that he can only look over at his children who have been wearing their coats and caps and feels a little relief. Only a little.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were cold” he fusses, rubbing his hands together and touching them on both the kids’ faces one by one to provide a little warmth

Both make faces and try to move away from his fussing self as they follow the lady deeper into the shop

“Stop it dad” Max whines as he continues to fuss “Its not even snowing, its not that cold”

Steve shakes his head but before he can say anything else the old lady comes back out from where she had gone somewhere inside the shop carrying three cups of something on her tray.

A closer look and a sniff through his nose and he knows its hot chocolate.

“Oh no no” Steve shakes his head “You didn’t have to do that”

The old lady turns to glare at Steve and he effectively shuts up as he watches Lana excitedly grab a cup and Max grabbing one too but not mirroring his sister’s excitement

He looks over at Steve in worry being smart enough to know taking things from strangers and drinking them is the stupidest thing you can do

His daughter on the other hand seems to have forgotten every single thing he had taught her and he grits his teeth before Lana can take a sip. Scary old Lady or not he is not gonna risk his children’s safety

“Lana” he says sternly warning her against going ahead and drinking the thing with his eyes but before he can say any further the old woman interrupts him

“I haven’t mixed anything in it but I get your concern” she picks up the third cup of hot chocolate and sits down on the antique looking chair behind her, taking a sip of the drink “That is why I didn’t bring you one”

She keeps sipping from her cup as Steve looks at her in shock, still not sure about what was going on

“Well your dear wife got the table custom made”

“What?”

“She could not decide on one so we sat together and browsed through designs before she chose one”

“Browsed through designs?” Steve is completely perplexed “I thought she found the perfect table here”

“That is what Mom told you” Lana mutters, still holding onto her cup to absorb its warmth in her hands “She said she didn’t want to have to deal with you telling her how expensive having custom made things is when you yourself have millions of updates developed into your car”

Steve stares at his daughter before turning to look at the old lady, then back to his daughter then to Max

“And you knew too?”

“Oh no no no” Max shakes his head vigorously then points at his sister “She did”

Steve turns back to his daughter

“I went with Mom to pick up the table, she tried to hide it from me but the tempo guy let it slip

"And you didn’t think to tell me” Steve finds himself growing more and more irritated with the situation at hand. It was seeming that his marriage had more secrets than he thought.

“I promised Mom not to tell”

“And?”

Lana looks down at the floor as she mumbles

“She bought me those blue tooth ear plugs for my silence”.

Max gasps as Steve just shakes his head. Why was he not shocked

“I knew it” Max points at his sister, his eyes wide “I knew she didn’t just buy you those, I had been asking her for them for months before she got a pair for me!”

“Well she did get you a pair” Lana crosses her arms

“After begging her for months!”

“Then start finding black mail material against them, its really effective, you know” Lana tells him proudly “Remember the expensive cover for my phone, I got it when dad dropped the box that contained the Expensive China and broke every single plate before going to the store and Buying the exact same plates”

Steve looks down at his feet as all eyes turn to him, Max’ wide with shock and the old lady’s shining in amusement. The old Lady lets out a laugh

“Great marriage you got going there”

Steve whips his head to look up at her and shakes his head

“No-No we don’t- Always-” Scary old lady or not he was not gonna let anyone say anything bad about his marriage or wife.

“I know” she nods her head in understanding, a smile still on her lips “Just little secrets, every marriage has them”

Steve nods hid head, trying not to thing about his daughter and the black mailing techniques they have unknowingly taught her. What the hell were they doing? Bribing a little girl with stuff she wanted to keep things from each other? That needed to stop. But how the hell was he gonna bring up the topic?

A thought flashes through his mind just then that has his entire body shaking, petrified.

Were you guys bad parents?

Was this the thing he was afraid of from the start? That he in fact was spoiling his daughter.

But before he could drown more and more in his thoughts, the old lady speaks again

“So yeah, I don’t got the glass you need, it was hand carved into. I myself delicately put it together, its gonna take me at least a few days to make an exact same one”

Steve shakes his head and shoots her a grateful smile. They did not have days, it was mere hours before you got home and found out.

He turns to look at his son who seems so dejected, Steve feels his heart sting from the pain of having hurt his son. He knows how much Max did not want to be the one that disappoints you and even though he knows you would never be disappointed in him he still wanted to be the one that found a solution. His son was like him in this matter. Even if you had found out it was a new piece of glass, it still would be after Max had found a solution.

Not wanting his son to feel this way was one of the major reason he even agreed to this operation

He moves to take Max in a hug before Lana pipes in again

“Uncle Tony has one”

“What?”

“When you decided to build the table yourself, uncle Tony came here to have an exact same designed piece made”

Steve”s eyes were wide as his lips pressed in a thin line. Who the hell did Tony think he was? Rage. Red hot rage was what he was felling right now and Tony better have his suit handy because Steve was in the mode to start another Civil war.

Max runs towards Lana in excitement, his father forgotten

“Seriously? Uncle Tony is the best!”

Steve grits his teeth and turns to the old lady who nods her head

“Tony Stark did come to my shop to get an exact replica made but I thought he wanted it for himself”

“Tony” Steve angrily whispers to himself, ignoring the celebration that his children were having “Where does he get off huh?”

“Uncle Tony saved us Dad” Max runs back to him and his jaw ticks “Now we can go and ask for his help”

Steve shakes his head but turns to the old lady

“I’m sorry for the trouble we caused you this time of the night” he digs in through his pocket and pulls out a twenty dollar bill, placing it on the table in front of him “We’ll see ourselfs out”

“Hey you didn’t but anything” the lady stands up “I can’t accept this”

“Please do, for the unwanted night duty and” turns nods towards the broken table by the entry gate “you know that-”

“No no, that is a fake”

Steve knits his eyebrows together

“I only have it for showpiece. Your wife said I could easily scare you the last time she was here so I was trying it out”

“She what?” Steve’s mouth is now wide open

“Yeah she told me next time she would bring you with her and that we would try this out”

Lana is laughing from where she is far left of him

“She did”

“I can’t believe this”

“Also I was the one that told your daughter to bang on my door whenever she needs me, I didn’t think she would actually do it but I was the one that told her that, I cannot accept this”.

Steve shakes his head at her before looking at his daughter who gives him a cheeky smile

God his children were gonna be the death of him

———————————————-

Procuring the perfect piece of glass this close to midnight was harder than Steve ever thought. One that was exactly the same as in the background of the picture of Aiden showing off his new shoes was even harder.

In Steve’s defense, there was not a single photo of only the table that he could find. This was the only picture that actually gave visibility to the table. What is with his family and covering up the entire frame while getting their pictures clicked? Can’t they just stand at a side so the furniture gets visibility too? And what kind of people don’t click pictures of their furniture? Especially the ones that are at risk of getting broken. Steve would have to remember all these points for the future.

The children trailing behind him as he embarks on his man hunt asking why they just couldn’t go to Uncle Tony was not making it any easier then it already was.

Fuck Uncle Tony

Steve was close. Very very close. Close to bust out and just say those words in front of his children after every:

“But Uncle Tony already has it”

“Why are we not going to Uncle Tony”

“Uncle Tony got the exact thing made”

That is why. He wanted to scream but would just shake his head and move forward, not letting his children see the angry look on his face and the clench of his jaw.

A part of him knew he would ultimately have to go to Tony. He was too deep in this now. Maybe if he had decided to tell you the truth you may have even laughed it off and gone to the old lady and ordered a new piece of glass.

But no. No no no. He had to be the hero. The savior for his kids. He wanted to fucking show them that their father knew how to get things done.

He wanted them to trust him with this so they could trust him in the future when they are in bigger problems. Was that so much to ask?

When the last shop that was open - because Steve refused to let Lana do the door beating thing again- said no. Steve knew there was no other choice. 

And so here he was. All alone because he knew how this was gonna go and having Tony tease him was one thing. Having the kids watch Tony make fun of him was another. He was not gonna let that happen.

So with a promise to get the mission to completion at any condition to his hopeful children outside the door of his house he took another route.

He sighs as he stands outside Stark’s lab waiting for him to emerge out with what is needed.

Don’t get him wrong. Tony and him have long let go of all their differences and Tony was even the one who helped Steve get away with the Avenging life style and have a safe place for his and Sam and Bucky’s family near to where Tony lived close to the Avengers Compound.

It was more because of the memory where Tony had made fun of him when the The ex- Captain had declared he was very capable of building up the table from the pieces that came in a box without any help.

Tony had laughed while you had tried to control the smile from taking over as you tried to remind him how bad he was at these things.

Now Steve is not one of those people that lets his ego and superiority complex make his decisions. But Steve was also the person who gets his ego hurt easily. And so he had been the one to build the table.

Showing off was a huge thing he did after that and Tony had had enough of it. So him coming to Tony for help fixing said table that had in fact been defectively put together was something that was hitting hard at his ego.

But that’s what being a parent meant right? Making stupid compromises. Because those damn kids just put him in his place. Even though they may be doing it unknowingly. Which he seriously doubts.

Tony’s laugh sounds as he emerges out of his lab with a perfectly cut out piece of glass following after him on some robotic trolley or something.

“Well Cap” Tony says, dusting his hands together “You are lucky I had an inclination something like this would happen and had the exact piece of glass in my lab, just needed to resize it”

Steve takes a deep breath

You promised your son

He has to mentally remind himself why he had to do this

“So lets fix up your colossal screw up shall we?”

You love your children. You should not break promises you made to them. Max looks up to you as his father. You can’t let him down.

His jaw clenches as he just nods his head towards a smirking Tony and moves to pick the piece up.

“Wait Cap. My robo here will deliver it” Tony nods at the robotic trolley as it moves forward “I would be there myself to make sure you don’t screw it up again but its almost Morgan’s bedtime and I gotta read her a story, don’t want her to feel left out now that the new baby is here”

Steve nods his head, giving a small smile at the mention of the kids’ name but before he can ask about them or Pepper, Tony opens his obnoxious mouth

“Don’t worry, my robo is high tech. He will fix the table so you don’t cause a disaster again”

Lana would be so upset if you don’t do this

He closes his eyes and follows the robo as it proceeds towards Steve’s house.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the mission.

With his hands on his waist and a scowl on his face he watches the dumb robot place the glass on the table and does something to it to fix it in place.

Max and Lana are sitting on the couch, a piece of pizza in both their hands as they eat while watching. Sam sits on the adjacent couch with both his 5 year old twin son and daughter on each of their father’s leg, sipping from their tetra pack juice Steve had got for them.

“I want a Robo” Ryan whispers

“Me too!” Rachel shoots up and Sam winches as she bounces on his leg before climbing down and running towards the thing, her brother right behind her

Steve smirks as he turns to Sam who sighs

“Ask Papa, this is Uncle Tony’s, Papa will know where to get you the same one” Sam says as Steve raises his eyebrows at him and Sam whispers so only Steve can hear “He doesn’t cook dinner and then runs away, he sure is getting to deal with this robo thing”

“Good” Steve nods smirking “I’m completely on board”

“Dad, when is Papa gonna be home?” The children are now on Sam’s feet

“Soon” he says but before he can add anything the robot makes an announcement

“Mr. Rogers, the work here is done, Mr. Stark asks me to tell you that there is no need for a spare piece of glass now. His inventions are better than you in this regard”

Steve grits his teeth and Sam barks out a laugh just as Steve picks up a pillow and throws it at the leaving robot. The pillow hits its back, having no effect as the machine goes out of the front door.

“Where did he go?” Rachel asks as she looks at the main entrance of the house from where the machine leaves

“I have no idea” Sam says, looking the same way “Shouldn’t you like make sure it gets to Tony?”

“Its great enough to permanently fix the table, its great enough to get where ever its going on its own”

Sam raises his hands in surrender before he looks over at the table just as Max and Lana hop off the couch to get a look themselves.

“Wow” Max runs his hand over the glass “it looks exactly like the old one”

“I know right” Lana squeaks “Uncle Tony is the best”

Steve scowls from his place behind the children, his arms crossed as Sam looks at him, amused

“Tony always has the solution for everything doesn’t he?”

Both the kids nod their heads excitedly, looking over at the table as Rachel and Ryan join them. The irritation and anger bubbling inside Steve grows. There was a time when he had just started his family with you and Tony had helped him retire and settle in this house when he had wondered why did he even disliked Tony to begin with. The thought was simple, accompanying the smile on his face as he watched Tony interact with his children.

Right now? with the blood in his vessels boiling and the rest of his body doing everything thing to calm it down, he knows exactly why he did not like the Iron Man to being with and if there was a chance, he would really like to have a “talk” with his past self for even thinking something like this. 

“Yup, Dad drives you all the way to the city and Uncle Tony is the one that gets things done”

Steve mumbles to himself and shakes his head when Max looks back and asks him what he said

“Nothing”

Max shrugs and turns back to the table before Lana sighs and turns to Steve

“Its better than our old one. Its got this beautiful shine to it”

Steve reluctantly gives his daughter a small nod as Max takes in a breath

“Its better than the old one” Max stands up and runs closer to Steve. 

“What?” Steve knits his eyebrows together trying to move a little bit back to put some distance between himself and his son. Said son seems to not understand this as he comes closer and takes hold of Steve’s shoulders and shakes him vigorously

“The table is better than the last one dad!”

Steve places his hands on both of Max’ shoulders and shakes him vigorously too

“I know son”

Max is shooting him a look and Steve finds himself not having anymore power to deal with all this. His anger was morphing itself into irritation and it was getting really hard to not take that irritation out on anyone in the room and so he takes a deep breath but before he can ask for more clarity on the subject Sam whispers

“Holy shit”

“Sam!”

“Sorry I mean Holy shirt” Sam looks down at his children who thankfully are invested in the design on the table to have noticed and decided to copy his mess up “Your original glass was not perfect”

“Yeah yeah” Steve growls “I know, Tony is the best. He got the perfect glass. Are we done?”

“Dad! Mom will know. She calls us crazy children because we destroy every nice thing she buys,if the table is perfect she will know something is wrong”

“So let me get this straight” Steve takes in a deep breath “You made me drive to the city, face a scary lady, deal with Tony and his big head, all for this glass and now you want to destroy it?”

“Yes!” Max nods his head just as Steve closes his eyes

“I don’t think so”

“No you don’t get it” Lana says as she turns to Rachel who now sits on the sofa along with her brother, watching the scene. Lana lovingly pulls out the tetra pack out of the little girl’s hand. “Can I have that Sweety, I promise to buy you two new ones tomorrow”

Rachel nods her head always wanting to do whatever her cousin sister asked of her. Lana gives her a small smile before turning towards the table

“Lana what are you-” a finger is raised to stop Steve from saying further and he finds himself out of words. What the heck?

She runs her hand through the smooth table one last time before squeezing the tetra pack to shoot out the drink on the table

Steve watches, his mouth completely open as Max claps his hands together excitedly before running towards the pizza box on the side table and picking up a piece and throwing its toppings on the table

Ryan has climbed down from his place on the couch and is copying Lana in the tetra pack emptying as Rachel runs her hands through the mess

“Wow” Sam whispers from besides Steve and Steve feels something akin to jealousy when unlike him Sam at least still has his words

“Well, might as well help” His friend smiles evily before himself sprinting towards the party

Sam picks up his daughter from the floor and stands her up on the table, holding her hands to help her balance on the slippery thing as Steve watches in shock

“Come on dad” Max calls out to his father and Steve looks at him and the others who have found other things to throw at the glass and rub on it. Lana is hitting a pillow on the thing as Max is rubbing his shoe on it, Sam holds tight to both his children as they sit on the messy thing and laugh.

A smile curves his lips as he shakes his head. If you told Steve Rogers when he woke up from ice that there would be a day where his heart won’t hurt like a needle is sieving its way through, that his eyes won’t shine from memories of time he belonged, that pain was something that he would seldom see. Steve would have given you an irritated look before deciding to never talk to you.

Yet here Steve Rogers was. In his house, away from the life he had left along with the memories of a different time, with the people that make his days worth waking up and children that make him wanna claw his ears out but who also make him wanna do every single thing he can just to hear the melody of their laughter.

He has a sudden urge to take you in his arms and thank you till the end of time for this heaven that you made possible for him. Maybe he will.

“Where are you going?” They’ve all stopped their craziness to look over at him as he steps towards the door that leads him out of the living room

“Yeah Steve come on its fun”

Steve shakes his head, looking over at all four of their dejected faces

“Gotta bring Aiden and Ana, can’t let them miss on the fun can we now” there is a beat of silence after his words followed by a series of excited howls as Sam brings his phone and plays the music

When Steve is back with his other two children, the music blaring, all he can think of is how his family is crazy, how they challenge every strict resolve he tries to build up, how he would have to eventually clean this mess up himself and how he would never have it any other way.

And so he brings the tomatoes to join in on the Mission: Destroy the table again.

———-

There is a ring on the door before the jingling of keys sounds and the door is thrust open. Steve takes a defensive stance but quickly withdraws a mop of dark hair comes to his sight.

“Hey Stevie” Bucky waves as you close the door behind him and Steve scrunches his eyebrows, hesitantly waving back

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him” you say, shaking your head as Steve makes his way towards you, ignoring Bucky who tries to discreetly check the table out

“He’s an idiot” Steve says as he wraps his arms around your waist, taking your lips in a quick kiss “How was your night Honey?”

You sigh as you pull away from Steve, sitting down on the couch to remove your high heels

“It was good. We had fun” you remove the heal off your foot by the strap and drop it down on the floor before sighing and leaning back to relax against the sofa.

“Yup, it was really fun” Bucky whistles and you turn to him in annoyance

“Correction. It was fun until he showed up. I have no idea why?”

“Hey!” Bucky looks at you offended “I was there to enhance the fun”

You just roll your eyes and turn to Steve, massaging your forehead

“I would have been home quicker but he kept insisting on proving he could drink as many shots as he likes without getting drunk. Even though no one challenged him and we knew he could. Nat had to produce her knife to stop him from saying any further”

“Then he made me go from one shop to the other in search of caramel flavor ice cream. Mind you not butterscotch. Caramel” You sigh “Because Rachel only likes Caramel even though I told him its Butterscotch”

“Rachel calls it caramel” Bucky defends himself “You have no idea the tantrum I have to face if I being the wrong one home”

“She’s your daughter alright” Steve comments and Bucky glares at him

“We did find caramel though” Bucky says, crossing his arms

“Yes from that fucking hotel in the city” you turn to Steve “We were here, 5 minutes out when he turned the car and went towards the city again even though I begged him to drop me home”

“Hey! I just remembered where we get the caramel ice cream from” Bucky shrugs “I don’t like going home empty handed when I stay away late at night”

“No one asked you to stay away” you grit your teeth and Bucky rolls his eyes

“I had other things to do in the city, just got in the bar for a quick drink when I saw you guys. You are not that important” He says “And you should be thankful to me for driving you home”

“I could have taken a cab” You grit your teeth “Way better than your stupid, stinky car”

Bucky takes a deep breath trying to say something

“Where are my babies?” you interrupt before Bucky can say anything

“Asleep” Steve turns back to you

“I really wanted to kiss them goodnight before they went to bed” you sigh “but someone made me late”

Bucky looks away as you turn to glare at him before going towards the sofa and sitting on it, analyzing the table.

“Wow this is beautiful” Bucky says as he moves his hand over the glass and Steve’s eyes widen in fear. What the hell was Bucky even doing.

“Yeah” you give him a small smile before looking at him suspiciously “Why?”

You move ahead to have a look at said table yourself

“Nothing” Bucky shrugs “Just realized its good, that’s all”

Experience warns there is more to the sudden fascination to a piece of furniture by a man who claims he does not care for this stuff but exhaustion pleads to let it go for now.

And so exhaustion does win as you look around

“Max and Lana in their rooms?”

“Yeah” Steve nods his head “Gone to sleep”

Your eyebrows knit together again in confusion as to turn to Steve

“Its summer” you say and Bucky snorts

“Yes and this couch is black”

You shake your head in annoyance, ignoring the idiot intent on testing every bound of your self control

“The older kids do not sleep so early in summer, its what” you look at the clock “1 am?”

Steve internally groans

“They were tired”

You look at him suspiciously but again exhaustion wins and you nod your head, heading towards the rooms

“I’m just gonna check up on the kids” You say as you exit the room

“Okay honey” Steve waves and watches you leave and when he is sure you are out of range he moves towards Bucky and punches his shoulder.

“What the fuck?” Bucky groans, massaging the injured area

Steve shakes his head deciding not to chastise is friend for the language right now

“What was that?” He asks annoyed “Why did you pull her attention towards the table?”

“The suspense was killing me” Bucky whispers back and Steve is left wondering if Bucky coming back in his life really is a good thing

—————–

The screeching of the door is followed Steve entering the room from the en-suite bathroom after having brushed his teeth. He pulls off his shirt, discarding it into the laundry basket and moving towards his bed.

You already lie there, on top of the blanket, not having made the effort to get inside the covers after having changed into your sleeping shorts and one of Steve’s shirts. Your hand is thrown to cover your eyes from even the dim light that encompasses the room.

Steve smiles as he makes his way to your side of the bed, helping you hoist up and get inside the sheets before he jumps in from above you and you let out a laugh.

“You could have hurt me” you tease

“I will die before I hurt you” He says and you roll your eyes

“Drama queen” you lightly hit his hand “I seem to remember the immense pain I was in when Aiden was born”

“Yeah and your pregnancy pain is my fault” Steve rolls his eyes smiling

“Of course it is” You shift to face him while lying down and he copies your action “Were you not listening when I was telling this to you in the delivery room”

“You mean screaming?”

“Same thing baby” you shrug and Steve laughs before bringing his hand to your cheek.

“Well that is the only pain I will inflict on you”

You shake your head fondly and give him a small smile before placing a soft kiss on his mouth

“You seem eerily sober for a woman who just had girl’ night”

“I’m tipsy, I guess” you shrug “couldn’t drink too much”

“Why?” Steve asks furrowing his eyebrows

“Because I’m not ready to have a hangover when I have four kids intent on wrecking havoc around our house”

Steve frowns “I would have taken care of them”

“I know” You smile and place a hand on his cheek “How did it go today? Everything gone smoothly”

You ask and Steve feels his heart quicken his pace but he tries his best to keep his face even as he nods at you

“Nothing happened?” You ask and he shakes his head

“If by happened you mean we had so much fun so a lot happened” he says and quickly scolds himself internally. What the hell Steve?

“Nothing at all?” You look at him suspiciously and he shakes his head

“Oh come on” he laughs, a laugh that is so so fake that it could qualify for a cry. His heart beats fast and he is quickly reminded how he is physically incapable of lying to you “What could have possibly happened?”

"I don’t know” You shrug “Maybe the fan was unhinged from the ceiling, maybe the kitchen was flooded”

You list off and Steve just rolls his eyes, internally sighing in relief. For a moment there he really was scared.

“Maybe the window of the living room was broken” Steve feels his eyes widen which he quickly controls but it is enough for your sharp spy eyes.

Steve tries to play it off like he did with your other comments but doesn’t realize how that would not be possible after you say

“Maybe the glass of my beautiful center table was broken”

That had him and he furrows his brows, looking at you intently and the moment he catches the shine in your eyes, he quickly gets up from his position

“Wha-What?”

You sigh before getting up yourself to cross your legs on the bed, facing Steve. You move your hand to run your index finger along his cheeks. His eyes follow the motion

“Maybe the kids spilled water on it and broke the glass while cleaning it off” You smile and Steve suddenly chokes on his own spit

“How-How do you” he stammers and you smile fondly shaking your head

“Oh my Stevie” you move to sit on his lap and straddle your legs on either side of him as you face him “You really thought you could hide it from me?”

“How do you even?” he asks, moving a string of your hair and had fallen on your cheek to behind your ear

“I noticed the window had newspaper covering rather then the glass” you say as you blop his nose affectionately “Then I pieced it together with Bucky crashing my girl’s night. I thought he got there because you were dealing with the broken glass”

He laughs at that and moves his hands around your waist to pull you closer

“God” he shakes his head fondly “That’s why you should never marry a spy”

You playfully punch his shoulder as he laughs but a thought comes to mind which makes him pause his laughter

“Wait a minute” he says, holding out his finger in front of your face “How do you know about the table”

You smile again shaking your head

“Never reveal all your secrets”

“Come on” he whines, tightening his hold on your waist “I thought the new glass really looked like the old one”

“Oh yeah it does” you say “would have never even found out”

“Then how”

“I have little spies around the house”

Steve raises his eye brows at you before laughing out

“I should have known” he shakes his head “Which one?”

“Well when I went to check up on the kids after I got home, Ana was dead asleep and I kissed her forehead and left, I could tell Lana and Max were pretending to sleep but I was not in the mood to confront. Then when I went to Aiden’s room and kissed his forehead he turned to me and started talking about how scared he was after the table broke and how upset his older sister was”

“Of course he did that Mama’s boy” Steve sighs “I forgot to tell him to not say anything to you”

“And you think he would have kept quiet?”

“Well at least you would have found out after like 2-3 days, not the moment you got here. You know how hard it was to get this new glass”

“That is what you get for plotting an elaborate scheme against me”

“Elaborate scheme” he uses his fingers to make the double quotes sigh “The kids didn’t want to hurt your feelings”

“Really?” You tease, moving your dace closer to him and kissing his cheek “It had nothing to do with the fact that I had warned you against putting that table up by yourself”

“I hate you” he mumbles and you place a soft kiss right on the spot on his neck you know would give the desired result. And you are proven right as he groans and takes hold of your hands

“I love you too” You give him a wide, cheeky smile, showing all your teeth

“I have no idea why I put up with you”

“Its because I am awesome” You press a small wet kiss on his chest and he groans “And because I do this”

A small content smile takes over his face as your hands roam his body before your hand that is pulling on the waistband of his sweats pinches hard on his waist and he lets out a scream

“What the fuck?”

“Language Captain”

He stares at you wide eyed, open mouthed and you let out a laugh

“Aiden also told me about the impromptu party you guys had without me” you mock glare at him

“We were re- destroying the table” he massages the area you pinched

“I know that. And you woke up my babies to do it”

“You know I wouldn’t leave any of my children behind”

You sigh, smiling at him

“You are a good father Steve” you pat his chest lightly “Are kids are so lucky to have you”

A little, involuntary curve takes over his lips as he softly kisses his wife. He pretends to ignore the shine of your eyes and the little shakiness in your voice just as you ignore his.

“I just wanted to do something for them” Steve whispers as he pulls you into a hug “So they could trust me to help them when they have other, more significant problems”

You pull away from him and place your hand on his cheek 

“I know sometimes it feels like they don’t especially during one of those tantrums but those children love you dearly and it doesn’t even make me feel bad that I know you are the one they are gonna come to if they really are in trouble in life”

Steve gives you a small smile and shakes his head 

“But they will always love their mom more” He says, trying to lighten the atmosphere of the room and saying what he knows is the truth

“That is so true” you tease and then giggle and try to move away when he tries to tickle you “Stop stop, I have something to tell you”

He keeps ticking you, now placing you on your back and climbing up on you, continuing his tickle attack

“STOP, SORRY SORRY” You scream and he shakes his head through his laughs

“I like to hear the sound of your laughter” he says and keeps tickling you as you try to squirm away

“I’m pregnant” You scream and suddenly the tickles fade away as Steve stares at you, his eyes wide. Shock paints every inch of his handsome face and you give him a small, hesitant smile

“I went to the hospital today before meeting Nat and Wanda, that is why I did not get drunk” you say hesitantly “I know we did not talk about another one but I-I well I- you know-’

Your lips are stopped from producing any more words as Steve’s mouth claims your in an intense, passionate kiss. His hands roam your body before finally coming to rest behind your neck

“oh my god” he whispers before he pecks your lips again “This for real?” he asks and you nod your head “I love you. Thank you for this”

He sits up and places his hand on your not yet showing stomach and keeps his eyes fixated there

“Thank you” he whispers and you smile as a tear falls down his left eye

‘You should be saying sorry” you tease and he looks at you, his eyebrows knit together “I’m gonna be in pain because of you again”

“Good pain” he laughs and you narrow your eyes at him

“Its definitely not good”

“Then let me make it better” he whispers, his eyes dark as he moves closer to you “Let me thank you properly for this wonderful surprise my baby mama”

You close your eyes as his lips press against yours and moan through the kiss. Your hands roam his bare back, appreciating his sculpture before your hand takes hold of the waist band of his sweats but before you can yank it down, Steve suddenly pulls away, his eyes wide and you look at him with your eyebrows knitted together

“If its a girl, I’m keeping her and Ana away from you and Alanah” Steve says “I don’t think I can handle anymore mini you’s”

You laugh as he looks at you in all seriousness.

———————-

The strong aroma of sugar and eggs and the little smoke coming out of the kitchen causes him to knit his eyebrows in confusion.

Steve had just left your sleeping self in the bed for some much needed extra sleep and had gone down stairs to cook for the children he knew would be awake any second and maybe make you breakfast in bed too.

After the news he just got, you would be getting a lot of these breakfasts in bed.

A flutter runs down his body at the thought of his unborn baby and a new addition to his already crazy family. The new kid had no idea what’s coming for them.

"Good morning Dad!” Max greets him as he enters the kitchen, flipping his omelette

“What are you doing?” He asks looking around the table to find Lana and Aiden sitting on their respective chairs on the dinning table and Ana sitting on the table itself.

Aiden is eating his pancake and Lana is eating hers and feeding some to Ana.

“Making breakfast” Max shrugs, bringing a plate and emptying the pan in a plate before the bread in the toaster pops up and he places it on the plate

Steve watches dumbfounded as all his children nonchalantly eat their breakfast as if it were a normal occurrence for their older brother to cook for them

“Here dad” Max places the plate of scrambled eggs in front of Steve’s usual chair on the dining table

Steve stares at the thing before looking up at his son in complete bewilderment

Max rolls his eyes as he goes back to cook himself a plate of pancakes

“I can cook you know”

“But why are you?” Steve now picks up his plate and moves towards the stove, standing besides Max and watching his son pour pancake batter on the pan. A swell of pride blooms within himself as he watches the scene

“I just-” Max looks at Steve before looking back down at the stove “I well, I just wanted to say thank you”

Steve feels a little tug at his heart

“What for?”

“You just-” Max flips the pancake on the stove, still not making eye contact “I just- I know how hard it must have been for you and I don’t know I just-. You lied to Mom for us and went to Uncle Tony even though he may have made fun of you and I just- Thank you for being my Dad”

He says at last shrugging his shoulders and trying to blink back the tears that Steve knows are forming in his eyes.

Steve rounds his arm around Max’ shoulder and shakes his head

“Thank you for being my son” Steve whispers so only Max can hear “And I’ve always got your back”

Max turns his head to look over at Steve. Strands of the young boy’s hair fall on his forehead as his eyes shine and his lower lip trembles

“Even when the thing is fixing a broken table that your mother won’t have even been very angry about because I know its important to you”

“I love you Dad”

“I love you more son” he gives Max a small side-ways hug and takes a bite of his eggs “This is amazing”

“Thank you”

“You guys having a party without me?”

“Mamamamam” Ana squeaks bouncing on the table and stretching her arms towards you so you can pick her up. You step in the kitchen and pick your daughter

“Am I not getting any pan cakes?” You ask the little girl, tickling her tummy as you kiss Aiden on the forehead who gives you a teethe smile. Ana lets out loud laughs and you kiss Lana on the forehead too

“Good morning Mom”

“Good morning”

Max places a plate of pan cakes with strawberries in front of you

“Oh wow, You made these honey?”

Max nods his head, smiling and you grin at him

“Don’t” he warns but you still reach him and ruffle his hair as Ana laughs in your arm

“My little boy is growing up so fast, Stevie make it stop”

Steve laughs as Max whines when you pull his cheeks

“Moooooom”

“He has started having facial hair Stevie” you gasp and Max pulls away from you. Running his hand through his chin where few hair have started growing

“Why do you always have to do this?”

“Can’t I even mourn the fact that my baby does not even need me to feed him anymore, now he had decided to cook breakfast for everyone”

Max rolls his eyes “Its a one time thing”

“We’ll see” you tease and take a seat on the table besides Lana and give her a small smile, eating your pancakes yourself and feeding some to your daughter on your lap

When Max is done cooking for himself and has put on his stack of pancakes what seems like all the chocolate syrup in the house, he settles down and starts eating

He shoots Steve a small smile and Steve’s heart is full. 

You look over at Steve knowingly and he smiles back at you.

Life cannot get any better. With his family eating breakfast together, laughing, teasing, just just being themselves. He looks over at you and then at your stomach that is cut from his vision because of his younger daughter on your lap and suddenly he just can’t wait for his new child to come along and join their siblings in making Steve question every single resolve in his life.


End file.
